Nowadays people love the villain more than the hero

You might think that Vikram Singh is a newcomer but the actor has done six Hindi films and played the lead in five of them. He has also done two Telugu films (1 and Rebel). He kick-started his career in tinsel town with lesser known B-grade movies like Karan Razdan’s Souten opposite Mahima Chowdhury and Ramsay’s Aatma (both in 2006). But his big ticket is Sabbir Khan’s Heropanti, a full-fledged commercial film. The actor holds no regrets that he has been a part of B-grade films “Working is important. I’m aware that Souten and Aatma aren’t a patch on Heropanti. But I’m an outsider with no contacts in the industry and no Godfather. Any struggling actor would have agreed to play the lead roles even if they were small films, so did I. I kept on doing films with a positive mindset hoping that I’d make it big one day. Though my films didn’t work, no one panned my acting. Surprisingly, Aatma still plays nine times a month on satellite TV. Many people identify me as Inspector Siddharth from the film.”

Vikram reminisces his struggling days, “I struggled or rather as I like to say, I have been looking for quality work for eight years. I came to Mumbai…. when I was 23 and now I’m 31. The biggest challenge any newcomer faces is to choose the correct film. Mumbai is like a different planet in itself. People are driven by their ambitions and intentions and you don’t always understand whom to trust and whom not to. There’s always someone to mislead you, misguide you.” He is grateful to his family for their unconditional support. “Thankfully, I belong to a business family. I lost my dad when I was 18 but my family put no pressure on me.” And even though he had bagged lead roles in his early films, they bombed and went downhill. “After 2006 I was left with no work in my hands. The industry identifies you with your last release. I had three flops in succession (Souten, Aatma and Trump Card). After this, meeting filmmakers and casting directors became difficult. But I didn’t lose hope.” Ask him about the casting couch and he laughs stating that every struggler goes through it. “I did face ‘a bit of approach’ by some men in coffee shops. They said they would get me big banner films. Their body language was an indication of their physical motives. I just ignored them.”

His first few failures taught him a lot. They gave him an opportunity to work with veteran actors. “In Mumbai Godfather I worked with Seema Biswas. In Karan Razdan’s Souten I worked with Mahima Chowdhury, Gulshan Grover and Padmini Kohlapure. Last year in Ya Rab, I worked with Pakistan’s top actor Manzar Sehbai. I don’t feel ashamed of any film. Even the lesser known movie Royal Utsav paid me handsomely for just two days of work. The director had envisioned a character based on the reincarnation of Alexander the Great and wanted me to colour my hair. I refused and opted for a subtle role.” He has played the villain in the Telugu film Rebel. So auditioning for the negative role in Heropanti wasn’t an alien feeling. “I met Sabbir sir (director Sabbir Khan) through a friend in the South. Hew auditioned me for the role of Rajjo Fauji, an anti-hero. He believed I was perfect for the North Indian Jat character. I was finalised after two auditions.” He has no qualms about playing the bad guy. “Nowadays people love the villain more than the hero. He is not just a rapist or a thief. He has his own reasons for being bad. Heropanti will surely be a fresh start for me.” He recalls a few memorable moments from the shoot of Heropanti. “We were shooting in Punjab for nearly two months. So one day I prepared jaggery parathas for the entire team. After that the crew kept asking me to make parathas every single day.”

Speaking about his co-star, Tiger Shroff he says, “Tiger is a focussed guy. He’s simple and shy. He doesn’t open up instantly but we became good friends over the course of time. We used to bond over our gym sessions. I wish him the best.” We hope that the talented duo writes a new saga of bromance in B-town.

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